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Transportation

Getting rid of that black cloud of exhaust behind our buses, and the negative health and environmental effects that come along with it, is easier than it may seem. Electric buses are not only cleaner and healthier than diesel buses, but transit agencies and school districts have many affordable options at their disposal to adopt them.

Most of America’s school and transit buses run on diesel, a highly-polluting fuel, but there is a better option. All-electric buses are here, and they’re cleaner, healthier and save money for transit agencies, school districts and bus contractors to run in the long-term.

A new report from Environment California Research & Policy Center, CALPIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group shows that if the state’s seven largest transit agencies replace their 3,130 diesel buses with electric buses, it would be like taking more than 34,000 cars off the road each year, when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing toxic air pollution.

Buses play a key role in in our nation’s transportation system, carrying millions of children daily to and from school and moving millions of Americans each day around our cities. Buses reduce the number of individual cars on our roads, make our communities more livable and sustainable, and provide transportation options for people of all ages and abilities. Yet, the majority of America’s buses remain dirty – burning fossil fuels like diesel that put the health of our children and communities at risk and contribute to global warming.

“Volkswagen lied to the American people and the residents of California paid the price,” said Emily Rusch, Executive Director with CALPIRG Education Fund. “VW’s crime is now an historic opportunity to help clean up our transportation system and accelerate the transition to a cleaner, healthier, 21st century transportation network. We must make sure these funds are not squandered on dirty, outdated technology like diesel and natural gas instead of all-electric options that can help save lives and protect the planet.” she added.

A new report from CALPIRG Education finds that $381.3 from the Volkswagen (VW) settlement is headed to California to help clean up the state’s transportation system and recommends using the funds to purchase electric vehicle fast charging stations for the state’s highways along with an aggressive expansion of all-electric transit buses to replace aging, dirty, diesel buses. The report finds that this amount of investment could purchase as many as 1,143 fast charging stations and 405 all-electric, zero-emissions buses, reducing dangerous pollution and saving money, all while accelerating further market transformation to an all-electric transportation system.

Despite news stories claiming that Millennials are buying up cars at record rates, the reality is quite different. After adjusting previous studies to account for differences in the size of the generations measured, on a per-capita basis, Millennials are 29 percent less likely than members of Generation X to own a car.